Few mainstream Hollywood films contain as much flesh and as much blood as “Apocalypto”. I criticised Mel Gibson’s “The Passion of the Christ” for its intense violent imagery because I thought it was overdone but the disgusting nature of “Apocalypto” seems appropriate given its subject matter. Be warned, this is not a film for those with a weak stomach.

“Apocalypto” is set during the waning of the Mayan civilisation. We see a village decimated by an invading force and many of the villagers are captured and taken on a perilous journey. Jaguar Paw (Rudy Youngblood) will need all his strength and all his courage if he is to escape his captors, return to his family and build a new existence.

As he did with “The Passion of the Christ”, Gibson has opted to cast largely unknown actors and actresses and he has them speak a dead language. I think it helps give the film greater legitimacy and no expense seems to have been spared when it comes to the costumes because they are fantastic. We want to see Jaguar Paw escape torture and death and the film is intense throughout. The other characters are good as well and as I say, it really helps that everybody looks and sounds like a Mayan.

Some have pointed out that the ritual sacrifice scene is more reminiscent of the Aztecs than the Mayans and one scene shows the arrival of the European settlers despite the Mayans having been wiped out long before any colonists came to the Americas. However, this film does seem to present a plausible view of life as part of an indigenous American civilisation. The film is very intense, there are lots of gory sequences and lots of nudity given the fact that the Mayans were not known to dress modestly. “Apocalypto” justifies its imagery because of its setting, something I feel “The Passion of the Christ” could not.